Let’s take a quick poll, writers: Hands up, who’s gotten screwed by a client?

Yeah, I figured.

There are a lot of shady businesses out there that take advantage of freelance writers, particularly Internet startups.

If you don’t watch out, you could put in a lot of work for a client and find yourself without a paycheck. Often, these lowballers turn out to be nightmare clients, too, who are annoying and never satisfied.

What are some of the typical b.s. lines you should watch out for (besides the classic “Your check is in the mail”)?

Here are seven of my favorite tall tales clients tell:

1. Do this project cheap and we’ll have more work for you

Ah, the lure of ongoing work. It’s been used to drive down prices for so many freelance projects!

If you hear this, ask for details. What sorts of work do they have coming down the pipeline, and what rates might they pay for those assignments?

If they can’t provide any specifics, this is likely just a line to get you to drop your rates.

Even if it isn’t, try to tie your low-priced project to a firm commitment for additional work. Otherwise, you may well be giving up income for no real gain.

2. If we like your early work, we’ll raise you later

When you get this one, see if you can make them define when that “later” will come.

A better scenario is for you to say, “I’m doing this project at a discount rate because I want to work with you and get in the door. But I expect to review my rates and raise them to my more normal levels after this project.”

If the client is vague on when exactly it might be possible to earn more with them, assume it’s an empty promise.

3. We’ll do a contract later

Stalling on signing a contract usually means none will be forthcoming.

The dodge here is to get you working and pregnant with the project, usually under the guise of the project’s being a big, urgent rush job: “No time for paperwork, we need you to start writing immediately!”

Once you start writing without a contract, they’ve got you where they want you.

You keep writing in hopes of getting paid, and they wiggle out of having to define important stuff like how long they have to cut you a check after you turn in your work.

4. We don’t need a contract — we’re friends

You never need a contract more than when you work for a friend!

Defining the terms of the working relationship will make sure you don’t end up losing a friend if there’s a problem down the line.

5. This sample will be paid if we use it

Requests for free samples are often a flat-out scam. Next of kin to that is the promise that if they decide to use it they’ll throw you a little cash. It’s not worth the risk unless you’re writing for a very well-respected publication or business.

Be sure to know or negotiate the rate at which it will be paid if used, too. I’ve had writers email me all excited because they heard their piece was accepted, and then ask, “How much should I bill them for?” If you don’t know the answer, it’s never going to turn out to be a good rate. You don’t have much negotiating leverage after the fact.

If the client tells you they decided to pass, set up a Google Alert to scan for key phrases in the story on their site — often, you’ll find the piece pops up as published anyway. In which case, send an invoice.

6. This will be a great opportunity for exposure

This is usually code for “there isn’t any pay” — and the vast majority of sites that make this pitch in fact don’t have a ton of traffic. Be sure to check on Alexa or similar Web-traffic ranking tools and find out.

There are plenty of websites that pay for blog posts. Concentrate on pitching those and getting exposure while you earn.

If you do an ‘exposure’ gig, be sure you’re clear on what exposure you’ll get — how many links are you allowed? Will they let you build an author page on their site? Could you do a series of posts, which would help build more recognition?

I once had a writer come to me all excited because she placed an article on Salon, which has a great reputation for quality, but pays little.

At the time, she had yet to put up a writer website! She had no other online presence where Salon readers could find out more about her and easily contact or hire her.

I’d submit that this means the Salon piece was not good exposure. It was a waste of time. First, put up a writer website — then, you’ve got somewhere to send those readers you get exposed to, and they can get in touch.

Also, ask yourself, “Exposure to what?” Does this site’s audience fit well with the people you would like to attract? If not, take a pass.

7. If it works for me, this will get you lots of great clients

This one isn’t exactly a lie, just a dodge used to pay you less.

“You’ll be getting a great clip from me, so I shouldn’t have to pay you!” is the rationale.

To sum up, treat what prospects tell you skeptically.

Does it sound like it might be bogus?

Trust your gut. It probably is.

What lies have clients told you? Leave a comment and add to my list.

By Paul McCormack

I wanted more clients, and more revenue.

My sales in 2012 were respectable, but nothing spectacular. Unfortunately, since launching my freelance writing business in 2005, I really hadn’t figured out how to market myself.

In order to grow my business, I needed a plan.

Would cold calling work? How about direct mail? Neither approach appealed to me.

If I was to do something on a daily basis, I needed to pick a cost-effective process that I could sustain, and didn’t make me nauseous (I hate cold calling).

After careful research, I selected just two marketing strategies that I felt comfortable using on a daily basis.

Here’s what I did…

Letters of introduction — they really work!

In October, I spent about two weeks in the Freelance Writers Den learning all I could about letters of introduction (LOIs).

The Den includes a forum where other writers post their LOIs for review. I’m not ashamed to say that I read all of them, and made notes on what I liked and didn’t like about each one.

Later that month, I started sending my own LOI to prospective clients.

Since October 2012, I’ve sent 120 LOIs. The response rate so far is around 45%.

That’s approximately 50 responses to a “cold” sales letter.

From those responses, I’ve landed ten new clients, with at least another ten prospective clients that will likely engage me in the next 6 months.

Sure, I made some mistakes along the way, but I learned from them!

If your emails don’t generate responses, revise and try again. I constantly refine my LOIs.

They’ll never be perfect, but it doesn’t hurt to focus on improving your approach.

Also, remember that LOIs arrive uninvited. Make it easy for prospective clients to read and take the next step.

Don’t sweat it if they don’t respond immediately, they’re likely buried under all the work they may end up sending you!

Existing clients like your work — ask for more!

In addition to sending LOIs, I revisited my existing client roster in order to pitch new writing projects.

For example, after reviewing an existing client’s website, I found out that they had launched a new blog two months prior (shame on me for not noticing sooner).

I sent a quick email asking if they would like me to write for their blog. They immediately responded asking me to write at least one, possibly two posts a month for the rest of the year.

Never overlook the chance to “up-sell” existing customers.

Since you’ve already written for them, you understand what they like and don’t like – use that information to your advantage.

By contacting my existing client with pitches for new services, I landed five new projects. What’s not to like?

That’s it!

No more complicated than picking just two approaches that didn’t give me hives, and I could commit to on a daily basis.

Since I joined Freelance Writers Den and began using these two strategies, I’ve landed 20 new projects, all of which paid at least $1 a word.

You can’t control if or when a prospective or existing client will respond to your marketing efforts.

However, if you take the time to learn and implement just two marketing strategies that you believe in, good things will happen.

Paul McCormack is a freelance writer based in Atlanta, Georgia, specializing in anti-money laundering, banking, cyber security, fraud, and intellectual property theft. Visit McCormack Writes to learn more.

Ever send a pitch letter to a prospective freelance writing client and not get a peep of response?

I’ve been hearing from a lot of writers about this issue lately.

It seems like writers send a query letter or letter of introduction, don’t get a response, and then go into a depressive funk for six months.

That’s not a way to make a living as a writer. You’ve got to keep pitching.

Also, if you’re never hearing back… if you’re smart, you seek to learn how to do better marketing, improve your odds of getting a response.

My tips for improving your pitch

There is some basic advice I find myself offering repeatedly in these situations, and it goes roughly like this:

“You spend three paragraphs of this letter of introduction talking about yourself — places you’ve written, awards you’ve won, your writer website, your recent college graduation, and so on.

“Then, you ask if they might hire you. Basically, it’s all about you.

“You need to cut that down to a sentence or two, and replace it with more information about how you will solve the client’s problems.

“You seem to be using a template for these queries, where you say pretty much the same thing every time, with just a few minor changes. That’s often not a successful approach. Good pitches require studying your target and then talking to them in their own writing style, about their particular challenges and how you can solve them.

“If you research this prospect and find out what’s missing from their website, and pitch them that precise thing, you will up your odds of getting a response. For instance, read that magazine’s guidelines and see what topic in their mission statement hasn’t been covered much lately, and then develop an article idea about that exact thing.

“Use your research — whether it’s an abandoned blog you noticed, or lack of case studies — to show the prospect you ‘get’ their business or publication and really want to work with them.”

Then the writer redoes their pitch as a customized piece written in that market’s voice, about exactly what the customer needs, and presto!

Next thing I know, they’re writing to let me know they got a response.

The magic of caring

Until now, that was my usual, long-winded explanation of how to angle your marketing pitch to get a client interested enough to pick up the phone or email you.

Last week, at SOBCon in Chicago, I learned a much more concise way of thinking about your marketing that can really put booster rockets on your effort and up your response rate.

Copyblogger’s Sonia Simone summed up how to get marketing results this way:

“You’ve got to give your marketing some GAS. You know — Give A Shit.”

Well, that hits it on the head and takes up a lot less space, doesn’t it?

Most freelance writers’ marketing is all about them. It telegraphs that your main focus is you — you need a gig! Please, please hire me, because I need more income!

The thing is, prospects don’t care about that.

They care about their problems.

Instead, turn that around and present yourself as someone who identifies with their company culture, recognizes their pains, and approaches prepared to help solve them.

Spend most of your time talking about what you noticed about what they’re doing, and where you could help them do better.

And everything will change.

Does it take a little more effort to do that homework so you can show you give a rip about clients? Yes, it does.

But a bit more work to land the client is a better way to spend your time than sailing off queries into space that will never get a response.

Does your marketing show you care? Leave a comment and tell us how you give it GAS.

Wouldn’t it be great if every writing assignment you were offered was a terrific one?

Unfortunately, that’s not how things always work out in the messy world of free enterprise.

There are a lot of shady doings online, and if you want to keep your reputation as a writer, you need to stay away from scammy situations.

Some scams arise out of deliberate greed on the part of the clients. Others come about due to utter ignorance of journalistic and scholarly ethics.

Here are three common writing assignments that are, shall we say, ethically challenged?

I recommend you stay away from these:

1. Essays for college students

Most writers know this is just not cool. But in case you don’t, as the mother of a college student, let me assure you that parents and university professors would really, really like students to write their own papers.

It’s dishonest to buy papers online and then pretend they are your own work. The student could be expelled for cheating if they use that school paper they buy online from that assignment-mill. These places are constantly out promoting and trying to recruit more writers to this shady side of the freelance street…for example, dig this guest-post pitch I got just a few days ago:

 I’m Alex, I work for <URL of essay mill website>, We can write a blog post “how custom essay writers earn money”. I’ll cover all the processes inside our organization to make your readers familiar with this particular type of work for writers. Please, tell me what you think about such topic for your blog.

As a kicker, this work doesn’t tend to pay very well, so hopefully it won’t be too hard to give it a pass.

2. Paid reviews of things you’ve never used

Has this happened to you? I’m finding this sleazy deal popping up more often lately. Startups and businesses of all stripes are desperate to rack up favorable reviews on popular portals such as Amazon, TripAdvisor, or Yelp.

In case you think nobody would be crazy enough to ask you to make up a review of something you know nothing about, here’s a screen shot of a recent LinkedIn query I got:

I hope it goes without saying that becoming a writer who posts made-up reviews around the Internet is not going to help you build a lucrative writing career. Just steer clear.

3. Pitching magazines your copywriting client

Many companies are unaware of journalistic ethics, and will ask to hire you to write for them. But what they’d like you to do is pitch a big magazine you’ve been writing for a great idea — that you’ve discovered a great business to profile…your new client’s business.

I got this one twice last week alone. Here’s a taste from one of the emails (names and details removed to protect the guilty):

“I came across an article you wrote for X Magazine. I wondered if the company for which I’m now working could pay your fees to write an article [for that magazine] that mentions them. The company is Y. The company has grown 20% each year. They need/deserve some publicity!”

Saying “yes” to this one is a great way to find yourself never writing for that magazine again, after they realize you failed to mention that the subject of your “great idea” for an article is in fact a paying client of yours.

In the world of journalism, this is called conflict of interest. It is lying by omission.

When a company hires you to write for them, then you are on their PR team. When you approach magazines, you must disclose that fact, or you are a liar.

You can decide to pitch an article as a reporter, about a company you find interesting. Or you can get paid by that business to write things for them — articles, web copy, white papers, you name it.

But you can’t do both at once.

You could pitch a magazine that another reporter should write about your client — that’s a PR activity. Or you could offer a magazine an article by your CEO that you’ve ghostwritten, for which you will be paid by the company. In this scenario, the magazine will usually not pay the company anything — it’s a free piece the CEO wants to get published to promote the company, and everybody’s clear on that.

Even after you’re done getting paid to write for that business client, if you want to mention or quote that former client in an article, you need to disclose it to your editor and get their OK.

It may seem tempting to try to get double-paid — by both a business and a magazine — for the same article. But trust me, it won’t be worth it when you’re found out and banned from the publication.

Got other writing ethics questions? Ask them in the comments below. Or consider attending 4-Week Journalism School – we spend a whole week on how to avoid getting fired or sued over what you write. Class begins Wednesday.